How it All Happened
by Writer's Wrath
Summary: This is a story that my best friend and I came up with. I've modified it a little. Basically, these twins show up and weird things start happening. One of them actually gets between Percy and Annabeth, so be warned of that. They go on this quest and save an extremely young and powerful daughter of Zeus. I haven't really planned it out and I suck at summaries.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Skyler**

I am sleeping in our room in a New York boarding school when Maren's voice drifts in with my wonderful dream. So I get up to see what's going on and happen to glance up at the clock.

OMG! It's 8:03! We're going to be late for school! I hurriedly get dressed and TRY to get Maren up.

(Triple emphasis on try.) Then I give up and pull her out of bed. Literally.

When I finally get Sleeping Beauty awake, she spits out, "What was that for?" So, of course I yell at her again that we're late for school. She glares at me then replies, "You know it's Saturday, right?"

The only thing I can manage to say is, "Oh." I recover from that little incident and add on, "You can go back to sleep now." "I can't you nit wit, you woke me up," she complains in an irritated voice.

Ignoring that snide remark (I am so going to get back at her later for that. [Evil laugh!] ) I say, "So what do ya wanna do? Ooh, can we go shopping?" Maren groans. "Ugh, do we have to? If we do, can we at least go to that bookstore on the corner?"

Now it's my turn to groan. Maren always takes forever when she goes to that store. "Fine," I reply. "But you can't take forever like last time when the manager had to kick us out to close."

Okay, here's the deal. Maren and I both LOVE books. The only difference is I know what I want, where it is, and how much it is. She is the exact opposite. She might know what she wants, has a general idea of where it is, and estimates the price range. It drives me CRAZY!

I grab some money and my thick winter coat. Maren puts on her big, clunky combat boots, grabs her ginormous and unnecessary backpack, and does the same.

I give her a look. "What do you think you're doing?" She gives me a look back and says, "_We're_ going shopping." "In your _pajamas_?" Maren rolls her eyes and forges ahead.

I follow her and tell our dorm monitor that we are going to be out for the day. We walk through the doorway and I suddenly feel that my life is about to change. My question is: for the better or worse?

On the streets of New York is one of my favorite places to be. It has everything!

We walk from store to store, shopping our little hearts out. Yes, I'm saying ours; I talked Ebony into buying things too.

We're skipping as much as we can over to the bookstore when a giant shadow passes over us. I look up and around but see nothing.

I glance over at Maren and her expression mirrored mine exactly (for once!). Curiosity, suspicion, a little frightened, but definitely determined.

I, for one, am definitely determined to find out what it is. The shadow passes over us again, but this time I can clearly see that it's a horse.

This confuses me, because, unless I'm mistaken, horses don't fly. Maren and I turn around and gape. Why?

Oh, because seven feet in front of us is a chariot with two people, a girl and a boy about our age, controlling it. They were riding horses WITH WINGS!

Now, our school has gone over Greek mythology before, frankly, I couldn't care less about that stuff, but I'm pretty sure those things are pegasi. From the look on Maren's face, I'm pretty sure I'm right.

The girl in the chariot started sauntering towards us, her boots crunching on last night's snow, and, I'm not gonna lie, she was pretty scary. I slowly start backing away, trying to pull Maren with me, but she remains strong.

The girl's stormy gray eyes stray from her fixed point on Maren to me which makes me cower even more behind my sister.

I sneak a peek at Maren to see how she's handling this. She is being perfectly calm, carefully and subtly analyzing the strangers.

The girl stops for a second, as if debating something, then continues her trek over to us. When she gets over to us, she studies us.

"Hello, my name is Annabeth," the girl, apparently Annabeth, states coolly. I give a little smile and reply, "Hey, I'm Skyler." Annabeth ignores me and continues with her statement, "I'm afraid you're going to have to come with us."

Maren raises an eyebrow. "And who, exactly, is the other half of your 'us' and why do we have to go with you?" Maren asks in a tone that sounds breezy and casual, but always gives me shivers when I hear it.

Annabeth looks a little taken aback at this, but motions for her partner to come join her. Once he reaches us, my knees turn to jelly and I have to cling to Maren to stay upright. Maren herself looks a little annoyed at this, but doesn't shake me off.

The reason why I have to resort to this is because Annabeth's partner is by far the hottest guy I have ever seen. Like, ever.

"Hey, guys," he greets as if we were old time friends. "My name is Percy and, well, I guess you've already met Annabeth." I get all giggly at hearing his voice.

"Hi. Um. Wow," I reply. Annabeth snorts. I'm now incapable of saying more than one word sentences. Beside me, Baren sighs. I give her a pleading look and she gives a slight nod.

"Hi Percy. The brilliant conversationalist over here is my sister, Skyler. And I am Maren. It's nice to meet you both. I'd really like to get an explanation from both of you, but it looks it's about to storm." We all glance up. She's right; it's getting darker by the second.

Annabeth whispers something; it sounds like 'storm spirits', but that can't be right. Percy yells for us to take cover, and I'm happy to oblige.

I try to yank Maren into the nearest store, but she's staring up at the sky, transfixed and muttering things. Yanking isn't going anywhere, so I try pushing. Suddenly, Maren yells, "Look!" and I turn around.

A scene of craziness stands before me: the storm clouds have taken on the shapes of angels and horses and are battling Percy and Annabeth. And Percy and Annabeth are fighting back with glowing bronze weapons.

I'm frozen; my limbs refuse to move and my mind refuses to function.

Annabeth gets her weapon shot out of her hand as two of the evil clouds gang up on her. The bronze thing is shot into the air and nearly impales me in the head.

I gave a little shriek and started hyperventilating. Maren tries to calm me down, but her focus is elsewhere. She bends down and picks up the bronze weapon, a knife I think, makes a split-second decision, and charges the creepy thingies with the knife in her hands.

My vision is becoming spotty, but what I can see of the fight is in Maren's favor.

One of her opponents takes notice of me and hurls a tree branch at me. I hear a shout; the world turns sideways, upside down, and finally my vision slams to black.

When I wake up, my head is throbbing. It feels like I have a bump the size of a golf ball on my forehead.

As for where I am, I'm in an, um, well I don't really know where I am. But, if I had to guess, I would say it was a hospital tent.

I can't see my sister, Percy, or Annabeth anywhere, just rows of little beds with sheets around them. Some had other people in them, with people caring for them.

Then I hear the flap that leads into the tent open, and who comes through is a normal looking dude, not Percy though, with a bad case of acne and a little goatee. He has on a Rasta cap and an orange shirt. I can't see his pants.

He walks over to my section and grins. "Oh, good, you're awake. I thought I would have to pour a bucket of water on you." I smile sheepishly and am about to introduce myself when I catch sight of his pants.

At first glance, they look like sheepskin, but with further investigation, I find that he also has hooves. I am shell shocked at this. He follows my gaze then gives a nervous bleat.

"Oops, I forgot to explain that. Um, well, do you know about Greek mythology?" he pauses for me to nod "Well, all that stuff is real. For example, I'm a satyr. Still with me?" I nod again.

"I think I get it. But why did you move from Greece?" I ask. He hesitates. "Well, Chiron will have to explain that to you. Anyway, there's more."

"More? How can there be more?" I exclaim. Just knowing that satyrs and pegasi and storm spirits are real is enough to blow my mind. Now I'm finding out there are more?!

"Yeah, there's a lot more. The Greek gods are also real. And sometimes they come down to Earth and mate with mortals. And have babies. And, well, that's where you come from. Oh, by the way, I'm Oscar," Oscar finishes. I stare at him for a full minute before pretty much exploding.

"You're saying that my parents are GODS?!" I shriek. Oscar pulls out an apple from under his cap and starts munching it, core and all.

"Well," he says in between bites, "just one of them is."

"Is it my mom or my dad? Which god or goddess is it? Does this mean that all the monsters in those myths are real and are gonna try to kill me? How do I kill them?" I ask.

The flap opens again and this time Percy walks in. I am immediately soothed by his presence.

"Hey, Percy, I was just explaining to this girl about our lifestyle," Oscar states. He seems to have lost all of his earlier nervousness. Percy grins. His teeth are so white!

"I hope you were gentler with her than you were with me," he replies. "Nope!" Oscar smiles mischievously. There is a loud earsplitting noise from outside that really doesn't help my headache. "Well, that's my cue. Gotta bounce!" He saunters outside.

"Is he always like that?" I ask Percy. He thinks for a second before replying, "Yeah, pretty much. How's your head?"

"Sore," I answer. "I think I can fix that." He reaches over to a table that I hadn't noticed before, picks up a glass, and hands it to me.

"Apple juice?" I ask, staring at the amber colored liquid. "Is there something mixed in with it or…" I trail off and study the drink a bit more. Seems safe enough. I take a cautious sip and a wave of warmth passes through me, making my head stop throbbing.

Before I know it, the whole glass is gone. "What did it taste like?" Percy asks. I almost forgot he was here. "I'm sorry, I should have let you have some," I exclaim. "No, I just wondered. How's your head now?" "Much better."

"Good. So do you want a tour of the camp?" We're in a camp? "Of course," I reply, very eager to spend some time with Percy. I jump out of bed, almost literally, and he leads me out of the tent.

When we get outside, I am flabbergasted. There are so many things to focus on at once. Satyrs and other campers move from place to place.

Percy shows me the climbing wall (which looks like it was oozing something), the cabins (a very weird array of countless mismatched buildings), the pavilion (an outdoor place with the same countless tables, not including one big table at the front and a huge brazier for burnt offerings), the sword arena (a bunch of demigods slashing and hacking at dummies, and sometimes people, to earn fighting skill), the pegasus stables (a couple of buildings filled to the brim with pegasi; totally awesome), and the Big House (which really looks like what the name implies: a really big house).

I love the way Percy lights up when he talks about his camp, which, by the way, is called Camp Half-Blood.

Anyway, Percy is taking me to the Big House because one of the people who co-run the whole place wants to speak with me. I'm a little nervous, but as long as Percy's with me I'll be fine. He's really good friends with everyone at the camp.

"Skyler, there's no reason to be nervous," Percy says soothingly. "What do you mean? I'm really not nervous," I try to tell him. "Okay, but you're cutting off the circulation to my hand." I glance down. I'm doing a death-hold on his wrist.

"Oops," I say as I let go. "Sorry, I guess I'm kinda nervous." We step up onto the giant wraparound porch.

From here, I can see the things Percy didn't have time to show me: the beach, the strawberry fields, the archery range, the camp shop, the canoe lake, the woods, the forges, the arts and crafts building, and some other things. I'm enjoying the view so much that I don't notice when a middle aged man in a wheel chair rolls next to me.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" the man says in a dream-like state. I jump and whirl to my right. Doing so, I notice that Percy has left. The man chuckles.

"Sorry for not making myself known sooner; I, like you, often get distracted by the view. Hello, I'm Chiron. And you are?" I ease a little at his words.

"Hi, Chiron. I'm Skyler. This is a really beautiful place you run here. If you don't mind my asking, who do you co-run this place with?" He smiles and nods.

"That's a perfectly fine question to ask. I run it with Dionysis, the god of wine,"

"Really! You can co-run the camp with an immortal!" I exclaim.

"Well, yes, but I myself am immortal as well. No, I'm not a god. I'm an immortal trainer of heroes," he explains.

"Wow. I wouldn't have guessed you were a day over fifty-three," I joke.

I hear him mutter under his breath 'Aphrodite'. "Excuse me sir, what did you say?" I ask as politely as possible. He gives a guilty grin.

"I was just saying that if I had to guess your godly parent, it would be Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty."

He must notice my look of surprise because he quickly continues, "I'm only guessing that because you're beautiful, charming, polite, and I can see how you view love," he says, nodding off in Percy's direction.

I can see him coming back towards us. I'm about to give Chiron a few choice words that will make him take back what he said about me being polite, but Percy reaches us too quickly.

"Hey, Skyler, do you want to meet some of my friends? We can go to the pegasi stables again later; I remember how much you loved that," he asks.

I want with all my heart to say yes, but I'm really tired. I tell Percy this and he nods. Chiron, who I completely forgot existed, says, "You can come stay in the Big House if you want; we have tons of extra rooms. I nod and reply, "That would be great."

Chiron leads me to one of the rooms on the first floor, explaining that he couldn't go up stairs in his wheelchair and how stairs are also too hard for his "other form" (whatever that means) and how they were installing an elevator just for that purpose.

Honestly, I'm only half-listening, and I feel like asking him why we're not going upstairs just to annoy him, but I won't.

When we finally reach my room I say good bye to Chiron and slam the door shut. I turn around and study my room.

There's a full sized bed, a fireplace with a chair next to it, a dresser, a mirror, and a bathroom. I sit in the chair think about the camp, mostly about what Charlie said about me being a daughter of Aphrodite.

I just don't see it. Who cares if I'm polite, charming, and, um, beautiful? I sure don't! A couple more thoughts later and I'm wondering why I don't want to be a daughter of Aphrodite so bad.

I come up with the answers: I care about more things than being beautiful, I want people to see me as worth something more than a pretty little airhead, and, well, I don't want Andrew to be disappointed in me.

My thoughts change to a completely different subject, like how it's December and the camp still feels like summer. Seriously, it's bright and sunny in the camp boundaries, but outside of them, it's covered in snow.

Then my thoughts flit to Maren, and how I haven't seen her since yesterday. I wonder how she's doing. Is she mad that I haven't been there to support her? Where is she? Has she talked to anyone today? Is she even in the camp?

Before I know it, it's three o'clock in the afternoon and I'm falling asleep. I don't even make it to the bed. Two hours later, something jolts me out of my nap. I jump up.

Of course, no one's there, but someone did leave some clean clothes for me to change into. I unconsciously look down at my rumpled clothes. Definitely time for a change.

I slip on the new clothes (orange t-shirt with words that I don't feel like reading and a pair of jeans) and head into the hallway. Empty. I follow the winding path that leads outside. Also empty.

Then I head over to the pavilion and find a lot of people, including my sister. Maren is talking to a pretty Native American girl with uneven hair and choppy braids. On her it looks good, though.

The weird thing is that Maren was actually talking and listening and laughing with this girl.

Then I realize that in the fifteen, almost sixteen, years that I've known my sister I've never heard her laugh. It makes sort of sad that I wasn't the one to unlock it.

I turn away before either of them notice me and nearly run into Percy. "Hey, Skyler! You woke up just in time. Dinner's about to start."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi. This is chapter 2 of my very first story. Yay! Please R&R!**

Chapter 2

Skyler

"Great. I'm hungry," I say. Percy leads me to a table and sits down at the table next to mine. He gives me a brief explanation of the table system and I understand why he's not sitting with me.

At my table, the "unclaimed" table, there's Maren and me, two other girls, and three boys. Something strange is going on, because the others won't meet my gaze and Maren is staring at me, sketching something out on a piece of paper.

I feel a little awkward, so I look down at my plate and see my reflection. And gasp.

I've been transformed; my comfy clothes are gone and in their place is a beautiful, full-length chiton in the shade of hot pink, my least favorite color. Delicate arm bands have placed on my forearm. Expertly done makeup covers my face. My long hair has been removed from its simple ponytail and has been French braided. Plus, I'm glowing pink!

I am utterly confused. And a little disgusted. And, I'll admit it, a little flattered, until I hear the absolute silence. Everyone, even Percy, is staring at me.

Then I hear Chiron's voice call out, "Behold Skyler, daughter of Aphrodite, lady of the doves and goddess of love and beauty." I swear I hear a little bit of a smirk in his voice.

Everyone's still staring at me, and I feel myself blush a brilliant shade of fuchsia, which the makeup thankfully covers up. Am I supposed to do something? I give a little wave and everyone goes back to their dinners.

I sit down, not remembering ever standing up. Chiron makes his way over to me and whispers that I have to move to the Aphrodite table.

Maren looks like she was expecting it and hugs me good bye. The other people, the ones I never got to learn the names of, gave small waves as I got up.

I turned to look at Percy. He shrugged his shoulders and gave me a helpless smile.

I trudge over to the Aphrodite table and sit down, unknowingly next to the girl who was talking to Liz earlier. She gives me a sympathetic smile. I give her a half one back.

"Hey, Skyler. I'm sorry about you being here, because you obviously don't want to be here. I didn't want to at first, either. But then I realized that not everyone was just a pretty little airhead like I thought. Like my friends, Lucy and Mitchell," she says gesturing over to the left.

I gave a little wave to them and went back to the conversation. "Thanks for the info, um, what's your name?" I reply.

"Oh yeah, I'm Piper."

"Nice to meet you Piper. Weren't you talking to my sister earlier?" I ask her.

"Yeah, Maren is awesome. It must be pretty cool to have her as a sister. She talks about you a lot. And she has a really pretty laugh."

I'm astounded by this information. There's the fact that she talks a lot about me. She barely talks _to_ me, much less about me. And I guess Maren sort of has a pretty laugh; I haven't really heard it before today.

We finish our dinners, and Chiron announces that there will be no campfire sing along tonight. Everyone gives a soft groan.

I follow Piper and her friends back to our cabin. It looks like a Barbie house. I'm about to walk through the door when Percy calls, "Wait!"

Every female Aphrodite camper except Piper turns around waves. Percy jogs over to me. "Skyler." Every female Aphrodite camper except Piper glares at me.

I give Piper a pleading look, the one I usually reserve for Maren, and she nods. And screams. Everyone's attention turns to her.

"Oh my gods! The new spring line is coming out early! Can you believe it?!" she shrieks. The mob of teenage girls turns into a wave as they rush for the catalogs.

Piper, who is pushed away with the crowd, sticks her tongue out at me. But her eyes give no sign of mirth. I breathe a sigh of relief.

I turn back to Percy, who looks surprised but at the same time like he was expecting something like that.

"What were you saying?" I ask him.

"I was wondering if you were okay. You didn't look too good when you were claimed. I mean, you did, you just didn't look like yourself." He seems flustered.

I think about this before answering. "Well, I was confused, disgusted, and, well, a little flattered that someone up there went through the trouble to do this. But I think I'll be okay," I say, looking over in Piper's direction for the last part.

"Great. Hey, do you want to hang out again tomorrow?" Percy asks me. I stare at him. Did the guy of my dreams just ask me out?

"Of course!" I shriek. He gives me one of his heart-melting smiles, says good night, and walks to his cabin. Does he know what he does to me?

I skip inside the Aphrodite cabin. It looks a lot bigger on the inside than it does on the outside. The cabin is divided into two separate rooms. One for the girls and the other for the guys, I guess.

I walk into one of the rooms cautiously, not wanting to walk in on anybody, and am relieved to see that's the girls' room. About fifteen beds line the walls, with little dividers in between each of them. Every girls' section is decorated her own way.

Skye waved me over to her bed and an empty one next hers. "Hey! How was Percy?" she greets. I sat on the empty bed.

"He was a total sweetheart! He asked me to hang out tomorrow," I exclaim.

"Aw, that's so sweet!" I hear a voice say. I look behind one of Piper's dividers and find Trinity listening to our conversation.

"Hey, Lucy. You wanna join us?" I pat a spot on Piper's bed. I look over at Piper. "If that's okay with you, of course." She grins.

"C'mere, Lucy." Lucy gladly hops off her bed and jumps onto Piper's.

"So, Percy asked you out?" she squealed.

"Well, sorta, he asked to 'hang out' with me. What does that mean?" Lucy and Piper both opened their mouths to answer when a voice rings out, "Lights out everyone!" The lights went out.

I groan. "Good night." I walk over to my bed and trip over the trunk at the foot of it. Luckily for me, there was no headboard; otherwise my head would have been skewered. I fell asleep in that position.

When I wake up, it's early. Like five a.m. early.

I drag myself up, careful not to trip over the trunk, and grab a mirror. There are tons of those in the Aphrodite cabin. I still had that stupid "blessing". Can I at least change out of the dress?

While, yes, it does make me look amazing, it's rather uncomfortable. Curiously, I open my trunk.

Sure enough, the clothes that I had barley worn yesterday are in there. Although, there are a couple of other outfits in there, most I definitely would not choose for myself.

I grab my camp clothes and rush off to the bathroom, trying not to wake anyone.

Once I'm all changed, I leave a note for Piper, just in case I'm not back by the time she wakes up. (Although from the way she's snoring, Piper might be asleep all day.)

I walk out of the cabin and head to the pegasi stables. If he's not at the beach or his cabin, Percy seems to spend a lot of time in there.

It's so weird not to see people running around here like yesterday. It also seems colder. I shiver and chastise myself for not thinking to bring one.

It was six o'clock now, campers were starting to come out of their cabins, and I was hopelessly lost.

"Um, hi. Can you tell me where the stables are?" I ask a person passing by. They turn around and I am shocked to see that it was Maren.

She smirks and says, "Funny seeing you here." Maren switches the bag she's holding to the other shoulder.

"C'mon. I'll show you where the stables are," she offers.

I hesitate. Maren isn't exactly known for making sincere, generous offers. Hers are always layered.

"Well, you're coming with me whether you like it or not, because I've got to talk to Percy as well," she concludes as she drags me to what I'm hoping is the stables.

"So, what have you been up to since we arrived here?" I ask her.

She shrugs. "Not much. I've mostly been exploring, training, and talking with Annabeth…" Maren trails off.

"Well, that's, um, cool I guess," I reply. Maren lets go of my arm and stops in her tracks.

"We're here," she declares. I look up. Yep, we're here.

"Thanks," I say, glancing over my shoulder. She's already gone.

I step forward and push open the doors. The stables are a little crowded with kids getting ready for their early morning lessons.

I look around, craning my neck for a glimpse of Percy's face. I find it near the back of the building, the rest of him brushing a pure black pegasus.

I carefully make my way over to him, dodging the people running around with equipment and grooming kits and… are those sugar cubes?

When I finally reach him, Percy looks up and smiles.

"Hey Skyler. Funny seeing you here," he greets. I smile back.

"And why is it so funny that I might take an interest in flying equestrian?" I ask.

"You know what I mean. Do you wanna meet Blackjack?" he gestures to the pegasus next to him.

"Of course! So this is the famous Blackjack that you were raving about all day yesterday. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," I say to the pegasus.

Blackjack whinnies and shakes his mane. "Oh, he likes that," Percy chuckles. "Blackjack, this is Skyler." Percy pauses. "Yeah, I guess. But please don't go overboard like last time."

I look around. All the earlier chatter had died down when morning lessons started. No one had said anything. Then it slowly dawns on me. Percy's having a conversation with the horse.

But wait. If I concentrate really hard, I can hear a faint voice that doesn't belong to any human.

Percy laughs, still continuing his conversation with the horse. "Wow, Blackjack, I never knew you went to Texas. What was it like?"

I wait for the answer. _One word: hot!_ "The pegasus talks?" I say.

Percy looks up, startled. "What do you mean, 'the pegasus talks'?" he asks carefully.

"Well, he doesn't talk in real life," I start, while thinking: look at me! I'm talking to a son of Poseidon and a pegasus about real life. "But, it's like I can here him in my head. It's really faint, but it's definitely there."

Percy pales a little. "You can here him?"

I nod slowly, unsure of what's happening. "Can't everybody?"

Percy shakes his head. "It's only for a child of Poseidon."

I finally understand. "So since I'm a child of Aphrodite, I'm not supposed to be able to here them. But I do. What should we do?"

"There's only one thing we can do. We have to tell Chiron," Percy reasons. Then he starts getting up and walking toward the exit.

"No!" I nearly shout. I'm standing there, blocking his way. "Please don't Percy," I say, trying to put charmspeak in my voice.

He blinks uncertainly. "Okay, but we should at least tell Annabeth. She's the expert on anything Greek."

So first he wants to tell someone who I don't trust and now he wants to tell someone who doesn't trust me. Just great.

"Percy, can't we just keep this between us?" I ask, putting on a little more charmspeak and batting my eyes. I'll admit, this "blessing" does have some advantages.

"Okay, I guess we can," he says.

I slap on a dazzling smile and thank him. I check the time on my watch. "I have to go. I promised Piper I would be back by eight so she could help me train."

I turn around and trip over a tack trunk. While I'm falling, I think of how I'm really starting to hate trunks.

Before I hit the ground, a pair of arms catch me. I look up and see Percy standing before me, his hands around me.

"Well hello there," I whisper. Is it weird that I can't feel my arm, the one that is wrapped around Percy?

Percy smiles. At the same time, we close our eyes and lean in. My body goes numb. This is how I always dreamed my first kiss would be. Our lips meet and even my thoughts go numb. The only thing I can feel is Percy's lips against mine.

Blackjack snorts. We break away and look up. In front of us is Annabeth Chase. Who, I'm guessing, hates me now more than ever.

Annabeth storms out of the stables, leaving me in Percy's arms.

ument here...


	3. Chapter 3- Author's Note

**Author's Note**

Hey, guys. It's Roy. I know you were hoping for a third chapter, but, honestly, I'm just not feeling this book anymore. I have tons of other ideas that I want to try out. Most of them involve a lot of Percabeth. Anyway, as of this A/N, I declare this story temporarily closed. See you guys later.


	4. The Real Chapter 3

**Yes! I did it! Here's the REAL chapter 3. I know you've been waiting, like, over two months for this. And I said that I wasn't doing this anymore, but I lied. Tada!**

Chapter 3

Maren

Nothing makes sense. I'm seeing flashes of events that I know aren't real. People riding chariots that are being pulled by pegasi. Me battling what looks like an evil angel. A van exploding with two things-I think they're gorgons- following close behind. They pulse around me.

Then they suddenly stop. An image of a little girl broadcasts its way into my dream. She is crouching behind a bush, spying on a group of kids wearing orange shirts. The girl only looks about ten.

She turns to face me and says, "There will be many dangerous paths they must take. Luckily you and I will be able to help them. Hi. I'm Katilyn Carson, but call me Kat."

Then she turns and disappears while the background remains. I peer in closer. There appears to be a centaur among the group of kids. Pure craziness.

Suddenly, my vision turns white. Everything disappears. Oblivion. I can hear Skyler's voice trying to penetrate my white bubble. My thoughts push her out.

In the real world, my blankets are pulled off me and I am pushed out of my warm, comfy bed. I tumble to the ground and awaken.

"What was that for?" I demand. That is no way to treat your sister. I'm about to say something else, but Skyler keeps on ranting about how we're late for school. That doesn't make any sense.

I glare at her, interrupting her rant and say, "You know it's Saturday, right?"

Her face is a wheel of emotion. It's original frustration, then surprise, confusion, and it finally lands on embarrassed.

"Oh," is all she has to say to that. Skyler regains her composure and continues with, "You can go back to sleep now."

Duh, I know that. But to mess with her even more, I call her a nit wit and say I can't.

Skyler ignores that. "So what do you wanna do today? Ooh, can we go shopping?" she asks.

I groan and reply, "Ugh, do we have to? If we do, can we at least go to the book store on the corner?"

I smile as Skyler answers. "Fine. But you can't take forever like last time when the manager had to kick us out to close." That was a good day.

While she's fuming about our different styles in buying books, I do a quick sketch in my sketchbook about the dream I just had. Seeing it on paper always helps me contemplate them better.

I grab my winter coat off the hook, pack my wallet, and brush my teeth. After I put on my shoes, I pack my sketchbook into what Skyler calls my "ginormous and unnecessary" backpack. One day this thing is going to save her life.

Before we leave, Skyler gives me a once over. She sighs and demands, "What do you think you're doing?"

I give her a look and reply, "We're going shopping."

"In your pajamas?"

So that's what this is about. I roll my eyes and breeze past her. Figures someone like her would say something like that.

While we're walking down the stairs, I debate telling Skyler about my dreams. Yes, she is a crazy, slightly fashion obsessed lunatic. But she's also my twin sister and I trust her and her judgment.

But then she starts chattering about some store that she wants to take me to. Hooray. I tune her out like I usually do.

We get to the bottom of the stairs and Skyler goes off to tell Stephanie, our dorm monitor, that we were going to be out for the day. I wait for her to come back.

I finger one of Stephanie's many porcelain dolls. They're so… cute? Creepy?

Skyler comes back and we walk through the door to leave the building and I suddenly get the premonition that my life is about to change.

My question is: for the better or worse?

I drag Skyler out of a new store that I'm pretty sure she would live in if I didn't drag her out. We're on our way to the bookstore. The book that I've wanted forever came out last week and I am dying to get it.

I walk while Skyler tries to skip to our destination. She's weighed down by about fifteen pounds worth of bags while I only have two bags. I'm carrying one for her and, well, I found a really cool key chain for my backpack.

Suddenly, a weird shadow passes over us. Skyler and I stop, analyzing it. People hustle pass us, annoyed at why we stop for no apparent reason. Can they not see the shadow? I can tell from the expression on Skyler's face that she's thinking the exact same thing as I am.

The shadow passes over us again; this time you can clearly see the outline of a horse. _When horses fly…_

The horses land seven feet in front of us. They're carrying a chariot. It's pulled by two people. Oh no. If this is anything like my dream, this will not end well.

A tall, athletic looking girl starts making her way to us, her boots crunching on the early December snow. The girl's stormy gray eyes only stray from my face once, to rule out Skyler, who was cowering behind my back, as a threat.

I stare at her, analyzing her weaknesses. She has almost none. If I could capture the boy, though. That could be a possibility. The girl falters when she sees my gaze shift from her to her partner.

The girl finally reaches us and introduces herself. "Hello, my name is Annabeth."

Skyler steps out from behind me and almost whispers her introduction. "Hey, I'm Skyler."

The girl, Annabeth, continues on with her statement as if Skyler hadn't even spoken. "I'm afraid you'll have to come with us."

I raise my eyebrow, trying to look intimidating. "And who, exactly, is the other half of your 'us' and why do we have to go with you?"

Annabeth looks taken aback that someone defied a direct order from her. She gestures to her partner to come join us.

He jumps out of the chariot and bounds over to us. Skyler grabs onto my shoulder, her jelly legs kicking in. I give her a look for showing weakness in the presence of possible enemies, but I don't shake her off. I'm not that cruel.

The guy introduces himself as Percy and flashes a gazillion watt smile at us, though mostly directed at my sister.

"Hi. Um. Wow." Ha. Skyler is rendered speechless. There's a first. Annabeth snickers and we share a look. Maybe she's not all bad…

Skyler gives me a pleading look and I blink. I wonder of Percy can read our girl exchanges.

I sigh. "Hi Percy. The brilliant conversationalist over here is my sister, Skyler. And I am Maren. It's nice to meet you both. I would love to get an explanation from both of you, but it looks like it's about to storm."

We all glance up to prove my statement true. The sky is darkening and thundering.

Annabeth mutters something that sounds like 'storm spirits'. Percy shouts for us to take cover.

I can feel Skyler pushing and pulling me to the safety of the nearby shops. But I stay still, staring at the sky. Something about this seems way too familiar. Then it hits me.

"Look!" I shout, pointing at the action. Big mistake. Skyler turns around and goes into panic attack mode.

The main fighting action moves up about five blocks, and, well, is pretty terrifying. Annabeth and Percy are good. Really good. But the storm spirits are better.

Annabeth and Percy start out back to back but are almost immediately separated by the chaos of the spirits. They're now each taking on at least four.

With a shiver, I realize why these things look so familiar. They perfectly resemble the evil angels I was fighting in my dream.

In the battle, Annabeth's knife shoots out of her hand and flies through the air. It looks like it's about to land in Skyler's skull, but luckily lands a few feet short. Skyler freaks out and starts hyperventilating.

Uh oh, if she keeps this up, she'll pass out in about ten minutes. I try to calm Skyler down, but I keep glancing at the knife, debating whether or not make that snippet of my dream come true.

Then, making a split-second decision, I grab Annabeth's knife and charge into battle. My hair is blown free from the loose ponytail I put it in this morning. It whips around my face. I throw the knife and it bounces through the storm spirits Annabeth was fighting. They dissolve with lingering wails and four piles of gold dust.

Annabeth walks over to me, breathing heavily. "Thanks," she says. Without a word I hand her her knife back. She shakes her head.

"That's my backup knife. You keep it. My knife," Annabeth says, rolling up her sleeve "is right here. C'mon, let's help Percy."

Percy's situation is even worse than he started out with. He's surrounded by at least ten more storm spirits. Annabeth and I charge into the outer layer the monsters without much trouble.

The others aren't as easy. Apparently, to kill a storm spirit, you have to catch it off guard. And they can to shoot lightning. So unfair!

While we're fighting, one of the monsters takes notice of my sister and hurls a piece of debris at her. Skyler immediately crumples. My heart stops.

Then I get angry. My blood boils. My brain comes up with a selection of words that are in a strange language. I choose the set with the strongest looking aura and scream them at the top of my lungs.

I feel a tugging sensation in my gut. The sky starts going crazy. It's flashing lightning and thundering like crazy. The wind starts to pick up. For a second I'm scared that I accidentally summoned even more of these monsters.

But suddenly, the storm spirits evaporate. The skies clear. The people come back, not realizing what just happened but still looking mighty suspicious of us.

In the distance, the sky rumbles. "We should get out of here," I suggest. They nod and I run off to get Skyler and my backpack.

Oh, God. She looks a lot worse up close. The giant piece of debris is sitting a few feet away. A man steps out of the continual flow of people and says, "She doesn't look so good. We should get her to a hospital." I glance up at the man and am about to reply when Annabeth sprints up.

"We need to leave. Now." I look around. People are staring and pointing at us. Annabeth was right. This will not turn out good.

Percy walks over while I'm grabbing my backpack. He picks up Skyler and more or less hangs her over his shoulder. It all seems so natural to him. I wonder if he's done things like this before.

Annabeth stiffens slightly at the sight of my sister hanging over his shoulder. She grabs my hand and drags me over to the chariot.

Now there are flashes from cameras, and I'm pretty sure I hear police sirens nearby. We get everyone and everything into the chariot and take off immediately.

The pegasi don't seem too spooked about what happened with the storm spirits, but they definitely seem eager to get back home. They're struggling from the extra weight. I'm sure my backpack weighs as much as another person.

Are these really the people from my dream? The orange shirts and chariot are exactly the same. I wish I could pull out my sketchbook and compare but the chariots cramped as it is. Four people, one who can't even stand, and my backpack in a chariot meant for two.

We hit some turbulence, probably repercussions from the attack or me expelling them. The chariot starts to bump as if we were on a gravelly road and Skyler is bumped into the sky.

"Omigod! Skyler!" I shriek and lunge for her feet just as she's about to fall out completely. For a second, we're safe. Then, her momentum drags me forward and pretty soon I'm almost out of the chariot as well. Annabeth gasps and I can feel her hands around my ankles.

So there we are. Annabeth hanging on to the edge of the chariot and my boot which is slowly sliding off. Then there's me dangling from Annabeth's hand, trying to keep my backpack on and keeping Skyler from falling to her demise.

In the back of my mind, I can hear Annabeth shouting orders to Percy and maybe me. There's something nagging at me, an idea taking place in my brain.

Then it decides to reveal its plan to me. "Annabeth! Let go of me!" I yell upwards. I can't hear her reply, but it's probably something along the lines of 'ARE YOU CRAZY?!'

"Yes, I probably am crazy. Now LET GO!"

Her fingers release from around my ankles, pulling one of my boots off. Now I'm freefalling without a parachute and clinging on to someone who may or may not be dead. Is it wrong to say that it's the most awesome thing I've ever done?

Skyler moans as I switch my grip on her from my right arm to the left. At least I know she's not dead. Time to try some experimenting. As we're freefalling, I take off my backpack and dig through it.

Topographical map that showed every country in the world on a single page? Nope. Magical compass that can lead me to any destination? Nope. Lipstick ray gun? Nope. Ah, here it is. My trusty rope.

I grab it, admiring my find. Then I get down to business. "Alright, Rope. Please grow longer and thicker and wrap around my sister and me." The rope obliges. I pick up my backpack in preparation.

"Thank you, Rope. Now, latch on to the base of the nearest flying chariot." Odd command, but my rope doesn't hesitate to fulfill its orders.

I throw the rope as far and hard as I can and it does the rest. Rope ties itself around the back axel of the chariot. I order Rope to untie us and I grab Skyler's leg before she could fall further. I start climbing up.

But as I climb higher, something looks wrong. While, yes, there's a girl and a boy, the girl's hair is more of a strawberry blonde as opposed to Annabeth's honey blonde and the guy's hair looks shorter than Percy's. I slide a little lower so I can eavesdrop.

"I'm telling you, Mick, you're doing this completely wrong." The guy laughs. "Like you can do it better!" "Watch me." The girl lunges for the reigns but the guy stops her.

"Bella, Bella, Bella. When are you going to learn? I always win in a fight. Now, where does the compass say to go next?"

The girl gives a resigned sigh and in a bored voice states, "Left. What are we even looking for? We've been searching forever and all we've found was… on second thought, we haven't found anything."

"Once again, you're wrong," the boy, Mick, corrects. "The storm spirits we sent out hit their target. Until one of them caused a big enough disruption. They may have gotten away, but if they came by chariot, they'll leave by chariot."

"If you say so." It's obvious that Mick and, um, Bella don't get along. But they're working for the same cause. Hmm, very interesting. I'm tempted to eavesdrop some more, but I've been here too long.

I quickly untie my rope and drop down. Luckily, they don't see or hear me. "Okay, Rope, please find Annabeth's and Percy's chariot and tie onto the axel." I throw it as far as I can while free-falling and holding my sister and backpack. Admittedly, it doesn't go very far, but it goes far enough.

My rope elongates until it can fulfill its task. Finally, the growing stops and I start climbing up. And up. And up. They must have gone higher to get a better vantage point. It would make a lot more sense if it wasn't so cloudy. I'm still shaken up from my mistake.

I shiver in the freezing December air. My coat had fallen off and I hadn't even noticed. Fighting monsters and nearly losing your sister will do that to you.

At last, I reach the top with my sister and backpack in tow. And, yes, it was the right chariot.

"Oh, thank the gods!" Annabeth exclaimed. "We thought we lost you."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Now take my sister before my arms fall off." I shove Skyler into Annabeth's arms, much to her disdain.

I climb onto the chariot, sit, and let my legs dangle over the edge. It feels good to sit.

I would ask where we're going, but I'm too drained.

Percy and Annabeth seem to feel the same way, as the chariot seems to stay silent. Except for, of course, Skyler's occasional groaning; a good way to tell that she's alive.

We land in a clearing after only fifteen minutes of flying. In the middle of winter, it feels like summer. I can see strawberry fields in the distance. And a lake. What is this place? Is this the same place from my dream?

A mob of people of all sizes crowd around the chariot. They're all wearing orange shirts like Annabeth and Percy. It's a little blinding. Percy smiles. "We were successful."

I grab my backpack and hop off. People's eyes follow me, shifting from me to the area above my head, like they're waiting for something.

I cross my arms and stare them down. "Can I help you?"

Finally a girl steps forward. She's pretty, but not in a trying-hard way. She looks Cherokee.

The girl runs a hand through her oddly braided choppy hair. "Hi. I'm Piper. Sorry for the crowd, we just haven't found any new… recruits recently."

Recruits? "What do you mean recruits? Will somebody please tell me what's going on?"

A man on a horse trots up, startling me. With horror, I realize that the man and the horse are _one_. He's a centaur. Just like the dream.

Without another word, I take off running toward a forest. This is all too overwhelming. What does all this mean? Why did Kat send me here?

I stop running and bend over, panting. For a second, all is quiet, peaceful. I never realized how dark it is in the middle of a forest. The sunlight barely penetrates the top layer.

A snarl comes from my left. I slowly glance over my shoulder. Two glowing eyes pierce through the shadows. I stiffen up. My hand lingers over to my knife. The thing gives a low menacing growl.

It pauses, as if debating something. Then it pounces. I give a small shriek. In a flash, my knife is in the air and I'm coughing up gold dust.

I shiver despite the summer-like temperatures. This is so… strange. There's the sound of a snapping twig in the distance, and admittedly I scream. Loudly.

I find the nearest tree and shimmy up it. A girl pops out of it and makes what I think is supposed to be a rude gesture.

Once my heart rate returns to normal, I give a sigh of relief. You know, it's kind of nice up here. I shift in position and close my eyes.

The next thing I know, I feel a hand on my shoulder. My eyes flash open. Oh, it's just that tree girl.

"I'm sorry for taking residence in your tree." I apologize. She glares at me and points down.

"Yeah, I'm getting down."

She jabs downward again.

"Yes, I get it."

She scoffs and waves her hand. The branches under me give way. I land with a thump on the forest floor, just in time to see Piper walking into the forest.

I scramble off my butt and stand up to meet her.

"Hey, I was looking for you," she greets. I raise my arms.

"You found me."

We stand there awkwardly. I kick at the ground. Piper runs a hand through her hair. She seems to do that a lot. I wonder if that's like a nervous habit of hers.

"Are you okay?"

I snap out of my daydream. "What do you mean?"

She shrugs. "You kind of look like you fell out of a tree."

I didn't really fall out of the tree, I was forced out, but my hair is tangled with leaves all the same.

We walk out of the forest. Piper looks out at the sky. "I think it's almost time for dinner. Let's go to the pavilion."

I follow her across camp, picking the leaves out of my hair.

There are tons of things to look at. I see and archery course, a sword arena, a climbing wall… that oozes lava? I'm hoping that I'm wrong.

Soon we reach a place that looks like a cafeteria without a roof. I'm guessing that this is the pavilion. There are already some people gathered, waiting for dinner.

Piper and I sit down at one of the tables. I note the flag above the table with a dove on it.

First, there's another awkward silence. I've grown accustomed to them. Then Piper clears her throat.

"So, tell me about yourself."

I shrug. "My name's Maren. I have an identical twin sister named Skyler. I warded off a pack of storm spirits, or whatever they're called, by using a spell. I've lived in a boarding school for the past two years. I don't have a boyfriend. There's not really much to tell."

Before she can reply, a boy with curly black hair jogs over to us. "Piper, do you know where I left my tool belt? I can't find it anywhere!"

"Leo, what are you doing?" Piper asks.

The guy, Leo, sighs, exasperated.

"Um, Leo," I say. "That's some tool belt you're wearing."

"Thanks!" He pats it.

Then his face falls. "Oh."

I chuckle. Leo takes a closer look at me.

"Wow. The last time I saw you, you were practically dead in the infirmary. That godly food is good, right?"

I grimace. "That was my twin sister, Skyler. She was having a panic attack and got knocked out by a tree branch. So, that's why she's practically… dead."

He blinks. "Oh. Um, sorry. I hope she gets better." Leo gives an apologetic smile and takes an exit.

I put my head in my hands. This day is a bust. Piper remains silent next to me.

Then, for no reason at all, I start giggling. Piper stares at me like I'm a mental patient. A second later we're both laughing in big loud guffaws.

The horn for dinner blows and we both gasp for breaths. People start swarming the pavilion. I wave Piper good bye and head to the table with a plain flag.

A couple of kids are already there. I say hi to them and sit down. What a strange day. There's something unnatural about this camp…


End file.
